In the Chernihiv region, a 12-year-old boy stopped an FPV drone that was flying toward his brothers and sisters
In the border town of Semenivka in the Chernihiv region, 12-year-old Anatoliy Prokhorenko defused an FPV drone that was heading toward his younger brothers and sisters.
This was reported by Suspilne. Chernihiv.
It is noted that on April 18, he single-handedly cut the fiber-optic cable and thus saved his brothers and sisters from the Russian drone.
The boy said he was outside when he saw the Russian drone flying toward where his younger brothers and sisters were playing.
"It was just flying; I saw it start to turn. I crouched down, looked up—and there it was. I said, 'That’s it, 15 seconds, and I’m pulling it!' My nephew ran out and shouted, 'Pull it!' I pulled it apart and saw that it was accelerating upward because it was losing control and starting to fall. We were already braced for it to explode. But the drone fell about 100–150 meters away from us into some bushes," he said.
Anatoliy’s military friends taught him how to properly cut fiber-optic cable.
"We just went with them to the forest to chop wood. We were friends. We chopped some wood, and when we cut down the last tree, there was this fiber on it. And he showed it to me and said, ‘In rare cases, cut it.’ And my instinct kicked in, because I had three of my own, and three more who weren’t mine (my brothers and sisters—ed.),” the young man noted.
According to Anatoliy, it was his first time doing this and he was scared, but his fear for his family overcame everything.
Mykita Gavrylenko, the operations director of the “Kruk” UAV operator training center, said the boy was lucky that there was no other drone nearby.
"Usually, an FPV drone doesn’t fly on its own. It’s guided by another drone from the air. And if that drone, from a height of 300 meters, sees a boy who starts disabling these drones—cutting the wires, tangling the fiber optic cables—what happens next? Next, that boy becomes a priority target because he’s getting in the way," he emphasized.
Anatoliy is currently in seventh grade. The boy’s father, Volodymyr Poltoratskyi, noted that due to the security situation, they have moved with their family to Chernihiv and plan to apply for IDP status. Anatoliy is the eldest son in his family; they have five children in total, Volodymyr says.
The boy said he wants the war to end. His main hobby right now is mechanics. He loves spending time with his father and helping him fix their car. The student shares that after this situation, he wants to join the military and work with drones.
A Ukrainian drone destroyed a Russian radar station in the Belgorod region.
On the night of April 26, Russian troops carried out a massive attack with strike drones on the Odesa region. Once again, the enemy’s main target was the region’s port and logistics infrastructure.
An attack by enemy drones was recorded in Chernihiv, resulting in fires in the city and damage to residential buildings.
Ukrainian rescue workers have completed emergency restoration work at the site of a four-story building partially destroyed by the Russian strike. Six people are known to have died, and another 23 were injured.
